Patented process uses algae to consume greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fueled combustion processes such as power plants. The algae use the available carbon dioxide in the exhaust and water to grow new algae, giving off pure oxygen and water vapor in the process. Light from concentrated solar panels is conducted into the algae chambers via fiber optic cables. The organisms also absorb nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide. Once the algae grow to maturity, they fall to the bottom of the bioreactor and are harvested for conversion into ethanol and biodiesel fuels.

Possible Fix For Global Warming? - Environmental Engineers Use Algae To Capture Carbon Dioxide. Includes video. The American Geophysical Union, American Society for Microbiology, and the Optical Society of America contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report. (Science Daily April 1, 2007)

How it Works

Quoting from http://www.greenshift.com/tech_desc.php?mode=3

GreenShift's CO2 Bioreactor is an enclosed structure with the ability to convert a concentrated supply of CO2 into oxygen and biomass. The biomass can then be converted into fuel through traditional means.

All plants, including algae, need the following to live and grow: a supply of CO2, light, a growth media and water with nutrients. The GreenShift CO2 Bioreactor provides these resources in a compact, cost-efficient way.

First, concentrated CO2 is captured at power plants or other source and piped to the bioreactor. The sunlight is then collected using efficient parabolic mirrors that transfer and filter the light to a series of light pipes. The light pipes channel the light into the bioreactor structure where it is distributed and radiated throughout the structure using light panels.The algae requires as little as 1.5% direct light which means that our collected light can be distributed over a substantial surface area.

Next, a growth media,such as polyester, is inserted between each lighting surface. Water, containing nutrients, continuously cascades down the growth media to facilitate the final required step for optimal growth.

Finally, to harvest the algae, the flow rate of the water over the growth media is increased slightly to gently remove a portion of the algae,allowing a portion of algae to remain and to begin the next growth cycle.The removed algae is then collected and routed for conversion into renewable fuels. Our technology is also very flexible and can accommodate a variety of algae types. High starch, high oil, or high cellulose algae can be grown in our bioreactor depending on output fuel requirements.

Costs

"GS CleanTech provides applied engineering and clean technology transfer services that can enhance your bottom line by making it cost effective and easy for you to recycle and reuse resources."

"Our bioreactor can substantially reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses that are produced from power generation or other industrial facilities, while generating significant revenues -- profitable for our customer, and geener for the environment. A win, win situation."

Patents

Patented

Profiles

Company: Greenshift / GS Cleantech

http://www.greenshift.com/whoweare.php?mode=1

"GreenShift develops and commercializes technologies that facilitate the efficient use of natural resources. We do so today by developing and integrating new clean technologies into existing biofuel production facilities, by selling equipment based on our technologies, and by using our technologies to directly produce and sell biomass-derived oils and fuels."

Active Programs

Corn Oil Extraction - Dry mill ethanol producers convert starch from corn into ethanol, which is currently the most widely used biofuel in America. The by-product of this process contains the fat from the corn and exits the back of the production process. This patent-pending technology economically recovers up to 75% of the fat from this by-product and converts it into crude corn oil which can either be sold as-is or for conversion into biodiesel.

Animal Fat Extraction - Reduces the volume of Dissolved Air Flotation sludge disposed by livestock and poultry facilities by 80% while recovering the majority of the animal fats contained in the sludge for cost-effective conversion into biodiesel fuel. This technology enables livestock and poultry processing facilities to dramatically reduce the volume of sludge they are shipping and disposing while creating a new revenue source for these facilities in the form of the refined fat extracted from the DAF sludge and converted into biodiesel fuels.

Pre-treatment of Fats and Oils for Biodiesel Production - Our fats and oils treatment process technologies include an array of conventional and enhanced vegetable oil refining, feedstock treatment and other associated processing equipment necessary to process all known conventional animal fats and vegetable oils in their natively available forms in conjunction with our patent-pending biodiesel production technology.

Tornado Generator™ - Accelerates compressed air to supersonic speeds to instantly grind, flash desiccate, atomize and homogenize solid and liquid wastes and other materials into micron sized powders. The Tornado Generator™ is robust and cost-efficient enough to process most conventional wastes at both centralized disposal facilities and decentralized point-sources.

In Development

Biomass Gasification - This gasification technology enables the gasification of cellulosic biomass at small scales into synthesis gas and the conversion of that synthesis gas into clean liquid fuels such as ethanol and diesel substitutes.

Stock Symbol: GERS.OB

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=GERS.OB

Coverage

Possible Fix For Global Warming? Environmental Engineers Use Algae To Capture Carbon Dioxide - A team at Ohio University created a photo bioreactor that uses photosynthesis to grow algae, passing carbon dioxide over large membranes, placed vertically to save space. The carbon dioxide produced by the algae is harvested by dissolving into the surrounding water. The algae can be harvested and made into biodiesel fuel and feed for animals. A reactor with 1.25 million square meters of algae screens could be up and running by 2010. (Science Daily April 1, 2007)